PONSONBY. 471 was appointed to the viceroyalty of Ireland, Mr. Ponsonby, through the interest of his British connexions, had the professional honour of a silk gown conferred on him, and was shortly afterwards appointed first counsel to the com missioners of revenue, the salary and emoluments of which were estimated at 1200l. a year, in the room of Mr. Maurice Coppinger, who was displaced by the new viceroy to clear a niche for Mr. Ponsonby. Many important prosecutions were directed by this board; and a barrister of such short standing must certainly possess considerable talents, as well as some practical knowledge, before he could fulfil the duties of such an office with competent ability and discretion. Mr. Ponsonby, however, seemed to evince a constitutional indolence in his professional avocation, and to manifest a predominant attachment to the sports of the field. He would at any time much rather have unkennelled a fox, and contended for the brush at the end of a forty miles chase, than have devoted a day to prosecuting a smuggler or a distiller, and driving an unhappy husband to ruin, and his wife and children to beggary. The onus of the duties, therefore, devolved upon his junior counsel. During the period of this vacillation between business. and his favourite sport, he married Lady Mary Butler, eldest daughter of Brinsley, second Earl of Lanesborough. In the sudden recal of the Duke of Portland from the chief government, Mr. Ponsonby lost a valuable patron; and on the arrival of the new viceroy, the late Marquis of Buck ingham, he soon discovered he had found an enemy. The noble marquis was selected by Mr. Pitt, to govern Ireland, in a new manner, and upon new principles. It had been the constant but unhappy fate of that country, to be the victim of party experiments, and the influence of great families contending for mastery, under the auspices of the British cabinet: and it was now decreed by the cabinet of England, that the power of the house of Besborough should give place to that of the house of Waterford. The new viceroy accordingly commenced his operations by
